Whitko Spikers Sweep Lady Warriors
September 20, 2016 at 4:39 p.m.
Whitko Spikers Sweep Lady Warriors
By Mark [email protected]
But after that the host Lady Wildcats rolled, earning a 25-19, 25-17, 25-16 sweep of the Lady Warriors in non-conference play.
Whitko senior Kaity Reed took over the match after Wawasee’s first-set run. She keyed a 7-0 run for the Lady Wildcats with three consecutive aces, and her teammates kept setting her up for spikes. Reed finished with 26 kills in the match, 19 more than any other player.
“Kaity is a great player, and she’s usually going to be the best athlete on the floor,” Whitko head coach Mike Howard said. “There’s been occasions where she feels a lot of pressure and sometimes overplays. We’re getting her to realize she can trust her teammates, and to be more disciplined in the system.
“Kaity makes us go; she drives our engine. We’re getting her to recognize you only get one point, it doesn’t matter how spectacular the play is. We want her to relax and she’s really starting to find her rhythm. It’s really fun to watch her play.”
After the first set, Wawasee had only one more lead in the match, winning the first point of the third set. Lady Warrior head coach Kayla Riportella used timeouts to talk to her team about moving around better and stepping up to the challenge Whitko presented.
“It’s a little disappointing in terms of what we brought tonight,” she said. “The girls know ahead of time they need to fight their way through things, and we didn’t bring it. It’s as simple as that. We weren’t ready to go. We weren’t ready to play that team.
“Honestly, I thought we were intimidated. Whitko is a really scrappy team, and they have a lot of offensively dominant players. No. 22 (Reed) was a force to be reckoned with. When things get tough, and we see things like that, we back off. And I keep telling them ‘until we stop backing off, and realize we are a force to be reckoned with, too, it’s going to be a whole lot harder to pull out some more wins this year.’”
Wawasee’s Olivia Clouse finished with three kills and two aces, and Madie Wilson had 10 digs for the Lady Warriors.
Whitko’s Haley Yohe was credited with 35 assists, and Kristina Slater had 18 digs.
Overall, Howard was pleased with his team’s performance.
“Tonight was one of our cleaner nights. Some of our earlier matches, some of our earlier losses, we’ve had self-inflicted wounds. The first set was pretty sloppy for us, but we served well enough to get out of trouble,” he said.
“Other than in the one stretch when we gave up four or five points in the second set, it was really clean, with players under control. We got away with a couple of things, but by and large, system-wise in our decision making, this match was much cleaner for us.”
Wawasee returns to Northern Lakes Conference play Thursday when it hosts Warsaw. Whitko hosts Wabash in Three Rivers Conference play today.
WHITKO 3, WAWASEE 0
WA 19 17 16
WH 25 25 25
Wawasee (leaders): Kills – Olivia Clouse 3; Aces – Clouse 2; Digs – Madie Wilson 10, Seaquinn Bright 7.
Whitko (leaders): Assists – Haley Yohe 35; Aces – Kaity Reed 7, Haley Howard, Kristina Slater, Andrea Snavely 2; Blocks – Reed 1, Lindsey Sapp 1, Brianna Tackett 1; Digs – Slater 18, Reed 10; Kills – Reed 26, Brianna Tackett 7, Lindsey Sapp 2, Howard 2
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But after that the host Lady Wildcats rolled, earning a 25-19, 25-17, 25-16 sweep of the Lady Warriors in non-conference play.
Whitko senior Kaity Reed took over the match after Wawasee’s first-set run. She keyed a 7-0 run for the Lady Wildcats with three consecutive aces, and her teammates kept setting her up for spikes. Reed finished with 26 kills in the match, 19 more than any other player.
“Kaity is a great player, and she’s usually going to be the best athlete on the floor,” Whitko head coach Mike Howard said. “There’s been occasions where she feels a lot of pressure and sometimes overplays. We’re getting her to realize she can trust her teammates, and to be more disciplined in the system.
“Kaity makes us go; she drives our engine. We’re getting her to recognize you only get one point, it doesn’t matter how spectacular the play is. We want her to relax and she’s really starting to find her rhythm. It’s really fun to watch her play.”
After the first set, Wawasee had only one more lead in the match, winning the first point of the third set. Lady Warrior head coach Kayla Riportella used timeouts to talk to her team about moving around better and stepping up to the challenge Whitko presented.
“It’s a little disappointing in terms of what we brought tonight,” she said. “The girls know ahead of time they need to fight their way through things, and we didn’t bring it. It’s as simple as that. We weren’t ready to go. We weren’t ready to play that team.
“Honestly, I thought we were intimidated. Whitko is a really scrappy team, and they have a lot of offensively dominant players. No. 22 (Reed) was a force to be reckoned with. When things get tough, and we see things like that, we back off. And I keep telling them ‘until we stop backing off, and realize we are a force to be reckoned with, too, it’s going to be a whole lot harder to pull out some more wins this year.’”
Wawasee’s Olivia Clouse finished with three kills and two aces, and Madie Wilson had 10 digs for the Lady Warriors.
Whitko’s Haley Yohe was credited with 35 assists, and Kristina Slater had 18 digs.
Overall, Howard was pleased with his team’s performance.
“Tonight was one of our cleaner nights. Some of our earlier matches, some of our earlier losses, we’ve had self-inflicted wounds. The first set was pretty sloppy for us, but we served well enough to get out of trouble,” he said.
“Other than in the one stretch when we gave up four or five points in the second set, it was really clean, with players under control. We got away with a couple of things, but by and large, system-wise in our decision making, this match was much cleaner for us.”
Wawasee returns to Northern Lakes Conference play Thursday when it hosts Warsaw. Whitko hosts Wabash in Three Rivers Conference play today.
WHITKO 3, WAWASEE 0
WA 19 17 16
WH 25 25 25
Wawasee (leaders): Kills – Olivia Clouse 3; Aces – Clouse 2; Digs – Madie Wilson 10, Seaquinn Bright 7.
Whitko (leaders): Assists – Haley Yohe 35; Aces – Kaity Reed 7, Haley Howard, Kristina Slater, Andrea Snavely 2; Blocks – Reed 1, Lindsey Sapp 1, Brianna Tackett 1; Digs – Slater 18, Reed 10; Kills – Reed 26, Brianna Tackett 7, Lindsey Sapp 2, Howard 2
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